After being nominated as his party’s Perth-Wellington candidate, long-time NDP member and social activist Geoff Krauter is addressing issues facing rural residents by proposing environmentally friendly solutions.

The Perth-Wellington NDP riding association is doubling down this federal election cycle with a candidate who has plenty of political experience.

Stratford’s Geoff Krauter has been an active member of the NDP for 17 years, serving as campaign manager in both federal and provincial elections in Markham, and leading the federal and provincial NDP riding associations in Guelph as president.

Now in Stratford, having moved to the city to be closer to his parents, Krauter is using his experience with the party and his passion for what the NDP stands for in a bid to become Perth-Wellington’s next representative in Parliament.

“I think it’s an important election for a number of reasons. The prevailing issue is climate change, and there is an urgency with which we need to act,” Krauter said. “I’ve been with the NDP for half a lifetime, and I think our approach to tackling climate change makes us the best choice in this election. We’re the only party that’s really proposing a Green New Deal in Canada.

“We’re proposing 300,000 new jobs in the clean energy sector and, with that, is our commitment to involve workers and farmers to make sure everyone benefits from the transition.”

And just as the NDP is focusing its platform around climate change on a national scale, Krauter says there are many local issues facing residents that can be solved in ways that also protect the environment.

“It’s all sort of interconnected with the environment. Food security is something I’d like to address, especially living in an agricultural area. Farmers and local producers need to know that the food system is safe and people do have access to local food. I’m a big proponent of the Local Community Food Centre and, as a party, we have a specific commitment to fund and encourage community food hubs across Canada so people can connect with that farm to table mentality,” he said, pointing out that local food supply chains can be both less expensive for consumers and better for the environment.

Krauter is also committed to improving infrastructure in the more rural areas of Perth and Wellington counties.

To help rural business owners and farmers improve their operations and to attract more business to the region, Krauter wants to see federal funding programs directed towards projects that would improve broadband internet access, as well as intercity and rural transit.

“Transit is a big piece of the climate plan. We need to make sure it’s accessible and zero-carbon, and that we move to a system where all municipalities can get transit funding because they have a stable federal partner,” Krauter said. “Often, there’s layers of squabbling and red tape going on with transit between the feds and the province, but that doesn’t change the fact that we need to expand rural bus routes.

“There’s been some movement on that from Stratford and other towns around here, but progress is slow.”

Krauter is also keenly interested in seeing federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s plan to promote the construction of half-a-million affordable housing units across the country through real estate tax cuts come to fruition, particularly for a region such as the Stratford area. In Stratford and Perth County, Krauter said, the available stock of affordable housing does not meet the demand of low-income residents, and what is available is often not affordable for many.

“Again, we need to have a federal partner that is actually committed to housing. The Liberals have made noises about a right to housing, but a lot of that is just noise. They killed the National Housing Program in the first place back in the mid-’90s … so I was really pleased and excited that one of the first things Jagmeet Singh put in writing was to build 500,000 new affordable housing units,” Krauter said.

While Krauter is keenly aware his bid to take the Perth-Wellington seat in Parliament away from the Conservatives is an uphill battle, he hopes to make contact with as many of the riding’s constituents as possible before the October election, especially rural residents who are sometimes overlooked during election campaigns.

And though he readily admits he is a die-hard partisan on the side of the NDP, he has pledged that the needs of Perth-Wellington residents would always come before the desires of his party should he be elected.

For more information on Krauter and his campaign, visit www.geoffkrauter.ca or search “Geoff Krauter, NDP Candidate for Perth-Wellington” on Facebook.